Adapting New Media Literacies to Participatory Spaces: Social Media Literacy Practices of Multilingual Students

Abstract

Approaching the new media literacies as social practices through the lens of Participatory Culture Framework, the present study adapted new media literacies to online social networks and examined the social media literacy practices of international graduate students (IGSs). The data was collected through an online survey of 90 IGSs, semi-structured interviews with 13 volunteers, and social media data of these volunteers. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the data revealed that IGSs engage in various social media literacy practices through the employment of multimodal tools and resources afforded by social networking sites despite differences across a multitude of literacies. Based on the findings, Social Media Literacies are proposed as a set of socio-literacy practices that are essential for navigation and participation in online diverse networks.